Unit 3 Studying Flashcards
Just noticeable difference (jnd)
The sensation that results if a change in stimulus intensity exceeds the differential threshold
Absolute threshold
The smallest amount of stimulation that can be detected by an organism
Differential threshold
The amount that stimulation needs to change before a difference in that stimulation can be detected
Perception
According to Helmholtz, the mental experience arising when sensations are embellished by the recollection of past experiences
Bell-Magendie Law
There are two types of nerves: sensory nerves carrying impulses from the sense receptors to the brain and motor nerves carrying impulses from the brain to the muscles and glands of the body
Phrenology
The examination of the bumps and depressions on the skull in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of various mental faculties
Clinical method
The technique that Broca used. It involves first determining a behavior disorder in a living patient and then, after the patient had died, locating the part of the brain responsible for the behavior disorder
Unconscious inference
According to Helmholtz, the process by which the remnants of past experience are added to sensations, thereby converting them into perceptions
Young-Helmholtz theory of colour vision
Separate receptor systems on the retina are responsive to each of the three primary colors: red, green, and blue–violet. Also called the trichromatic theory
Method of adjustment
An observer adjusts a variable stimulus until it appears to be equal to a standard stimulus
Method of constant stimuli
A stimulus is presented at different intensities along with a standard stimulus, and the observer reports if it appears to be greater than, less than, or equal to the standard
Method of limits
A stimulus is presented at varying intensities along with a standard (constant) stimulus to determine the range of intensities judged to be the same as the standard
Phrenology
The examination of the bumps and depressions on the skull in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of various mental faculties
Wernicke’s area
Discovered on the left temporal lobe of the cortex near the Broca’s area, it’s responsible for speech comprehension.
Vitalism
Living organisms possess a unique life force or vital force that distinguishes them from non-living matter. It suggests that this force is responsible for the characteristic properties of life and cannot be fully explained by physical and chemical principles alone.
Weber’s law
Just noticeable differences correspond to a constant proportion of a standard stimulus
Psychophysics
The systematic study of the relationship between physical and psychological events.
Physiognomy
The attempt to determine a person’s character by analyzing his or her facial features, bodily structure, and habitual patterns of posture and movement
Panpsychism
The belief that everything in the universe experiences consciousness
Kinesthesis
The sensations caused by muscular activity
Broca’s area
The speech area on the left frontal lobe side of the cortex (the inferior frontal gyros)
Will
According to Wundt, that aspect of humans that allows them to direct their attention anywhere they wish.
Voluntarism
The name given to Wundt’s school of psychology because of his belief that, through the process of apperception, individuals could direct their attention toward whatever they wished
Structuralism
The school of psychology founded by Titchener, the goal of which was to describe the structure of the mind
Elements of thought
According to Wundt and Titchener, the basic sensations from which more complex thoughts are derived
Act psychology
The name given to Brentano’s brand of psychology because it focused on mental operations or functions. Dealt with the interaction between mental processes and physical events
Mental set
A problem-solving strategy that can be induced by instructions or by experience and that is used without a person’s awareness
Principle of the heterogony of ends
According to Wundt, the fact that goal-directed activity often causes experiences that modify the original motivational pattern
Principle toward the development of opposites
According to Wundt, the tendency for prolonged experience of one type to create a mental desire for the opposite type of experience
Stimulus error
Letting past experience influence an introspective report
Tri-dimensional theory of feeling
Wundt’s contention that feelings vary along three dimensions: pleasantness-unpleasantness, excitement-calm, and strain-relaxation
Evolutionary psychology
A modern extension of Darwin’s theory to the explanation of human and non-human social behavior (also called sociobiology)
Spencer-Bain principle
The observation first made by Bain and later by Spencer that behavior resulting in pleasurable consequences tends to be repeated and behavior resulting in painful consequences tends not to be
Social Darwinism
Spencer’s contention that, if given freedom to compete in society, the ablest individuals will succeed and the weaker ones will fail, and this is as it should be
Survival of the fittest
The notion that, in a struggle for limited resources, those organisms with traits conducive to survival under the circumstances will live and reproduce
Evolutionary associationism
Spencer’s synthesis of the principle of contiguity and evolutionary theory, would later become the Spencer-Bain principle
Coefficient of correlation (r)
A mathematical expression indicating the magnitude of correlation between two variables
Binet-Simon scale of intelligence
The scale Binet and Simon devised to directly measure the various cognitive abilities they believed intelligence comprised. The scale first appeared in 1905 and was revised in 1908 and in 1911
Adaptive features
Those features that an organism possesses that allow it to survive and reproduce
Inheritance of acquired characteristics
Lamarck’s contention that adaptive abilities developed during an organism’s lifetime are passed on to the organism’s offspring
Natural selection
A key concept in Darwin’s theory of evolution. Because more members of a species are born than environmental resources can support, nature selects those with characteristics most conducive to survival under the circumstances, which allows them to reproduce
Eugenics
The use of selective breeding to increase the general intelligence of the population
Factor analysis
A complex statistical technique that involves analyzing correlations among measurements and attempting to explain the observed correlations by postulating various influences
Fitness
According to Darwin, an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce
Regression toward the mean
The tendency for extremes to become less extreme in one’s offspring. For example, the offspring of extremely tall parents tend not to be as tall as the parents
